If you're a mayor or City Council member, there are two things you must do right: plow the snow and collect the garbage, quickly and efficiently. Mess up either of those tasks and you risk getting turned out of office at the next election.

We're not worried about snow. We know that when the snowflakes fall, Public Works Director Tim Hanson's crews will quickly move it away.

We haven't been worried about garbage pickup, either. Unlike many cities our size and larger, Rockford contracts with a private company to collect and dump garbage. Since 1999 the city has hired Rock River Environmental Services to collect residential garbage in the city. It's a local company headquartered in Rockford, employing Rockford-area people. The garbage is taken to the Winnebago Landfill, also owned by the company.

The contract expires at the end of the year. Last spring, we criticized Ald. Nancy Johnson, D-8, for making a motion to renew Rock River's contract without getting proposals from other firms. Johnson, now off the council, withdrew her motion and the city sought bids.

Now, aldermen are preparing to choose between two bidders for a seven-year contract with a three-year extension clause. Rock River is bidding. The other bidder is Advanced Disposal Systems, a national company based in Florida with a local office in Davis Junction in Ogle County. Advanced also owns its own landfill — Orchard Hills in Davis Junction.

We talked to six aldermen last week, and they told us they have no complaints about Rock River's service. Five of the six said they are inclined to vote for Rock River to get the new contract. The sixth was mum on how she intends to vote.

We agree with the five because, as Ald. Jeanne Oddo, D-8, said, "If it's not broken, don't fix it."

People will pay more for garbage collection no matter who gets the next contract. There are four options available to aldermen.

We like option four. According to a City Hall staff analysis released Thursday, under option four, "unlimited collection of refuse, bulk items, recycling and yard waste are still provided. The existing 18-gallon recycle bins would be replaced by a 32-gallon can. ... In this option, Advanced Disposal is slightly less than Rock River Disposal. However, staff believes the cost difference does not justify transitioning from the current provider. Our recommendation if this option is chosen would be to remain with Rock River Disposal," the analysis says. Over the seven-year life of the contract, the difference would be $419,720 more with Rock River than with Advanced.

We agree with the staff analysis. Here are some other reasons why we think aldermen should re-up with Rock River under option four:

Rock River, headquartered on Wansford Way in Rockford, has 258 employees, and "127 of them directly service the work of the city of Rockford's waste," the company says. Those workers volunteer in hundreds of nonprofit organizations. Rock River and affiliated companies contribute to area hospitals, charities and other service organizations.

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We do not think Rockford householders should be contributing to Ogle County government coffers, which is what would happen if city garbage goes to a landfill in Ogle County.

A saying often attributed to Woody Allen says 80 percent of success is showing up. Rock River leaders asked, and came to make presentations to the Editorial Board. We haven't heard from Advanced Disposal.

Rock River has a team of local customer service people who field complaints and solve problems quickly. Aldermen told us they have good relations with these folks, almost as if the garbage company were a city department.

We're pretty sure Rock River will be here for the long term. Rockford garbage has been tipped into the Winnebago Landfill since it opened in 1972, and the company is a direct successor to the William Charles family of companies that date back several generations. The company now called Advanced has either been global or national, and has gone through a series of ownership changes. We've never met any of their corporate leaders. We don't even know who they are.

Advanced has no minority employees based in Davis Junction, says Ald. Tom McNamara, D-3. Rock River's employees reflect considerable diversity, which is very important to us.

A word about "totes": These garbage cans are picked up directly by a mechanical arm on the trucks. They're nice in theory, but they require open access to the curb. In Rockford, cars park on most residential streets, making totes impractical, leading to time delays.

In a perfect world where everyone could park in driveways, we'd like totes, too, but we'll stick with regular garbage cans. Again, the current system isn't broken. Don't fix it.

Let's be clear: Bidding out this contract was the right thing to do. We're confident that competition caused the sharpening of pencils and the tweaking of estimates at both companies. The winners will be the people of Rockford.